“We have agreed that we can both have other lovers as long as we think that this is the right thing to do. The rule is, after it happens, we have two ways to deal with it. The first way, is telling the partner at once, the partner can be jealous, but can not ask for a break up; the second way is, keep it a secret, but the person who do this must conceal the affair forever, otherwise, we have to break up. ”

“I am not happy and I will not smile because life is hell when you are unhappy. I realise I have done to much damage to you in the past few days… I can totaly understand you when you say that you dont want to see me and I promise to leave you alone!!!
I have made many mistakes in my life but I have never been so depressed as this time…
It is sad what has happened between us and I realise now that my heart is more broken because I love you… not like a friend but like my true soulmate lover… I want you to believe me when I say that and I dont care if you dont love me anymore… I will always carry you in my heart…

Please dont stay away from me too long… this would destroy me and I could not live with that.
I am very very tired and will sleep now…”

The other day, I saw that my friend had an interesting Facebook status update posted:
“Winnie Chan is… so amazed that architect used to work long hours in Song dynasty China (14.4 hours in summer and 9.6 hours in winter)”

This made me laugh a bit, as we RMB Kids have sometimes been working late hours these days, as Beijing night falls earlier and earlier, and the days get colder and colder. I sent a message to Winnie (who is an architectural student, one of the creators of Green Map HK, and my former studio-mate from Fo Tan), asking where she got this information. She replied that it was taken from the Song Dynasty architectural manual “Yingzao Fashi” (營造法式) (which she was reading even though her study period is Qing Dynasty gardens and city of Yangzhou).

I became curious about this book, and after a bit of Googling, found that it was written by Li Jie (李誡), an architect and author who unified several older treatises on architectural methods into one document, which was then published by the Song Emperor Huizhong in 1103, to provide a standardized methodology to architects, engineers, and government officials.

Especially as we are in the process of exploring the possibilities of feng shui in Second Life and RMB City, it is interesting to think about traditional bodies of knowledge, and how and when they are standardized. The idea of an “instruction manual” with absolute rules, guidelines, and styles for building a palace, a city, an empire, is simultaneously worrying and attractive. Would it help or hinder creativity? In some unintentional way, have China Tracy and Jia Nootan (RMB City’s Artistic Coordinator) been forming our own “Yingzao Fashi” in the process of working with our engineers Avatrian? In the rapidly-evolving field of virtual architecture, where cities can rise in the blink of an eye and disappear as quickly, is there any need for such discrete units of systematized knowledge? Our RMB City Archive, and the upcoming feng shui project, aim to explore just this.

Artist Cao Fei’s ambition to build a virtual city in the online world of Second Life is taking shape. Second Life is a virtual world where hundreds of thousands of netizens live out their dreams behind avatars of their own creation. Cao Fei plans to devote the next two years to the project, during which she hopes her RMB City will become home to a range of artists and cultural institutions. She is inviting them to buy space in her city, to build venues and hold events and activities there. Some units of RMB city real estate have already been sold, while others are on reserve. Two collectors confirmed to be moving in are the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, which will have a virtual center in the People’s Aerial Castle, and also art collector Uli Sigg, whose People’s Palace will be the RMB City Hall. The Financial Times has reported that prices ranging from USD 80,000 to 200,000 are being paid for space in the city, but those figures cannot be confirmed. Follow progress at www.rmbcity.com

James Au, the Second Life expert and RMB City’s good old friend, just posted a blog post on RMB ‘s Mian Mian project: “Love Letter to an Avatar”. James Au described Mian Mian as “Shanghai’s literary bad girl”, as her books have been banned by the Chinese government since 2000. The Second Life first-hand reporter also talked to the controversial writer on the love letter project, to read their conversation, see here

People’s Monthly – RMB City’s newsletter which contains all RMB-City-related statistics, interviews and articles – is going to be launched in January 2009. For those who want to know about this exciting publication, we offer a little preview of the newsletter – a flyer that is available in the Shop in Jian Wai Soho – for them to get a glimpse of this coming-soon RMB City production.

RMB City is an online art community in the virtual world of Second Life. This project is an experiment exploring the creative relationship between real and virtual space, and is a reflection of China's urban and cultural explosion. RMB City is developed by Cao Fei (SL: China Tracy) & Vitamin Creative Space. Facilitator: Uli Sigg (SL: UliSigg Cisse). Presenter: Serpentine Gallery.